The Symposium for Teaching with Technology 2021: Event Schedule
The Symposium for Teaching with Technology 2021 was held online on April 21-22, 2021, from 1:00-5:30 P.M. Below are the sessions and their accompanying recordings.
Wednesday, April 21 – 1:30 P.M. to 2:30 P.M.
| Welcome and Keynote | |
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| Session Title |
Critical Digital Pedagogy: Inclusive Design for Online and Face-to-Face Learning |
| Click Button to Watch Recording | Watch Recording |
| Description | There has been much talk over the last year about maintaining ‘continuity’ of instruction and assessment, but it’s even more important for us to talk about how we maintain the communities at the heart of our educational institutions. This is the design challenge before us. A critical digital pedagogy argues that we are better users of technology when we think critically about the nature and effects of that technology. How does a reflective, critical pedagogy translate into digital space? Can the necessary dialogue flourish within Web-based tools, social media platforms, or learning management systems? How can we build platforms that support learning across age, race, gender, culture, ability, geography? What are the specific affordances and limitations of technology toward these ends? |
| Presenter(s) |
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Wednesday, April 21 – 2:45 P.M. to 3:30 P.M.
| Concurrent Session 1 | Concurrent Session 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Session Title |
Fireside Chat with Jesse Stommel |
Diagram It: Generating and Structuring Knowledge with Concept Maps and Memes |
| Click Button to Watch Recording | This session was not recorded. | Watch Recording |
| Description | This session will be an opportunity for attendees to chat informally with our keynote speaker, Jesse Stommel. Come with any questions you may have about digital pedagogy. | Visual representations of knowledge can be a powerful means of engaging your students. In this session, we will explore a range of tools and approaches to creating and organizing knowledge visually, from memes to concept maps. Faculty from Humanities and Social Sciences will discuss how these tools and approaches have enriched their classroom pedagogy during remote/hybrid instruction. |
| Presenter(s) | Jesse Stommel, co-founder of Digital Pedagogy Lab and Hybrid Pedagogy: the journal of critical digital pedagogy |
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Wednesday, April 21 – 3:45 P.M. to 4:30 P.M.
| Concurrent Session 1 | Concurrent Session 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Session Title |
Teaching Close Looking with the Virtual Museum |
Centering Student Learning: Reflections from the Library’s 2020 Campus Survey |
| Click Button to Watch Recording | Watch Recording | Watch Recording |
| Description | How might we continue to learn from physical objects when access to the objects is restricted? This presentation will demonstrate three different techniques, tools and platforms for engaging objects through close-looking exercises. These include two close-looking exercises on Zoom, a demonstration of the audio-based platform High Fidelity, and a demonstration of the collaborative storytelling platform Storiiies. Throughout, we will consider the unique affordances digital tools allow for close-looking with objects, which include: encountering objects at different scales, reorganizing traditional working methods, and introducing new temporalities of communication. We will also discuss how to integrate these digital tools and platforms into particular lessons by considering specific kinds of collaborative exercises and assignments for both synchronous and non-synchronous teaching. | In recent Library surveys, UChicago College and graduate students have indicated the importance of obtaining a range of skills while at the University. Do course readings, assignments, and other instructional experiences support those skills? In this session, UChicago librarians will use data from the Library’s 2020 Campus Survey to explore aspects of teaching and learning before the pandemic and pose questions about how things might have changed since. |
| Presenter(s) | Gary Kafer, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Cinema and Media Studies; Academic Engagement Intern, Smart Museum of Art |
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Wednesday, April 21 – Lightning Talks
| Lightning Talk 1 |
Making Content Accessible Offering accessible digital content is an important part of the University’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. This discussion focuses on the basic principles of creating content that’s accessible to all users, including people with disabilities. Pat Kogos, Director of Digital Accessibility |
| Lightning Talk 2 |
Using YouTube-style Vlogs for Argumentative Assessment in the Core Many Core sequence instructors rely on argumentative essays to build their students’ critical thinking and argumentation skills. In this lightning talk, I explain how I add oral argumentation as a creative assessment tool that helps scaffold written argumentation skills. Students write an outline of their arguments and then argue their thesis in a ‘vlog’ (video blog). Dr. Lara Janson, Teaching Fellow in the Social Sciences |
| Lightning Talk 3 |
Using Google Maps for an Architectural Course Zhiyan Yang, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Art History |
| Lightning Talk 4 |
Virtual Access to Library Special Collections Learn about instruction options from the Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, including digital resources and remote classes. Catherine Uecker, Head of Research and Instruction, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
Thursday, April 22 – 1:30 P.M. to 2:30 P.M.
| Plenary Session | |
|---|---|
| Session Title |
Back to the Future: Pedagogy and Technology after the Pandemic |
| Click Button to Watch Recording | Watch Recording |
| Description | An extraordinary year of remote and hybrid teaching has compelled us to learn and adopt a number of new teaching practices, virtually all of which are mediated or facilitated by digital tools. What have we learned about teaching with technology as a result of our experiences, and how might those experiences shape our pedagogy as we eventually transition back to in-person instruction? In this panel discussion, instructors from across the disciplines will share their reflections on this question, offering insights on what tools and practices they might bring back to their post-pandemic teaching. |
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Thursday, April 22 – 2:45 P.M. to 3:30 P.M.
| Concurrent Session 1 | Concurrent Session 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Session Title |
Social Annotation: Tools for Teaching Reading |
Transforming Research Skills in the Digital Age |
| Click Button to Watch Recording | Watch Recording | Watch Recording |
| Description | Teaching reading has never been easy. First, the act of reading is by nature intangible. Then, there are different forms of reading: from textual analysis and close reading to translation, from assessing, collating, and evaluating data, sources, and arguments. What strategies have proven successful for teaching reading? What challenges have we faced and how have we adapted? A panel of faculty from across the disciplines will reflect on how social annotation tools, such as Hypothes.is, help them address these and other questions. They will share their lessons learned, leading into an open discussion. | Gone are the days of printed syllabi and course packets, as learning management sites like Canvas host course content and mediate social interactions. Embrace of virtual Zooming and reexamination of the bias against digital ethnography, has encouraged reimagination of learning objectives and engagement possibilities. Leveraging screen time already spent online, my students examine and experiment with platforms, subcultures, and online media including conducting meme and #hashtag ethnographic research projects. Drawing from teaching ethnographic research methods over the past year, I use this pedagogical data to examine the visual culture of online learning. Examples show that students can participate in and apply the same research skills used in the physical field, as can instructors, to improve learning experiences. |
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Matilda Stubbs, Lecturer, Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice |
Thursday, April 22 – 3:45 P.M. to 4:30 P.M.
| Concurrent Session 1 | Concurrent Session 2 | Concurrent Session 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Session Title |
Canvas and Beyond: Engaging Students A/Synchronously |
Teaching Students to Present Research Digitally |
Engagement via Play: The View from Students |
| Click Button to Watch Recording | Watch Recording | Watch Recording | Watch Recording |
| Description | Student engagement comes in many different flavors. The object of engagement can be the course material, the learning outcomes of the course, between instructor and students, or between students. The initiator and depth of engagement can vary according to course activities–sometimes it is appropriate to ask students for their opinions/preferences, sometimes instructors may want students to take the lead. In this session, faculty from across the disciplines reflect on how different types of communication tools (Canvas Discussion Board, Slack, Ed Discussion) allow them to engage students successfully. They will share their lessons learned, leading into an open discussion. | Creating lasting digital artifacts is an excellent way for students to feel a sense of ownership over their scholarly work. This session will explore two means of transforming student research into digital artifacts: Web-based digital exhibitions and podcasts. Christopher Wild (Germanic Studies, Humanities Collegiate Master), Joe Stadolnik (English) and his former students, and Aidan Kaplan (NELC) will explain how they integrated digital tools for presenting student research into their classroom pedagogy. | Less commonly taught languages like Yiddish have a small class size, which presents unique challenges and opportunities. These require even more unique solutions in the online environment. In this informal discussion between the instructor and the three students, we will discuss what worked well, how we built a community around learning, what kept students motivated, and what the challenges and rewards of having a very small language class online have been. We will then demonstrate some of our favorite or most effective activities from the language classroom, including guessing games, acting, songs, and show-and-tell, offering commentary along the way. |
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Thursday, April 22 – Lightning Talks
| Lightning Talk 1 |
All About Ebooks Librarian Rebecca Starkey will provide a brief overview of the UChicago Library’s major ebook platforms and will offer tips for instructors using ebooks for their courses. Rebecca Starkey, Head of Research and Instruction Services, University of Chicago Library |
| Lightning Talk 2 |
Spatial Thinking in Digital Pedagogy and Research Learn how instructors use ArcGIS StoryMaps to teach students how to think spatially about course content. See examples of course assignments and completed research projects. Cecilia Smith, GIS & Maps Librarian |
| Lightning Talk 3 |
Assignment Design to Maximize Student Engagement In this Lightning Talk, we’ll discuss various synchronous and asynchronous assignment formats to maximize student engagement in an online course. Using a range of assignment formats within the same course allows students to shine in areas where they’re stronger and develop important communication skills in their weaker areas. Nadine Farouq, Adjunct Lecturer, Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies |
| Lightning Talk 4 |
College Center for Research and Fellowship: Online Resource Library This session briefly introduces research, writing and fellowship resources that are available via CCRF Resource Library. Faculty and teaching staff may want to use these resources for both instruction and broader student support. Sandra Zupan, Assistant Director of National Fellowships and Undergraduate Research |